Feeding the World Demands Change from Farm to Fork

Last
weekend, in the wake of one of the longest, coldest winters in recent memory, my
family and I walked in the spring sunshine, past stands of oaks and blossoming
redbuds, along the winding trails of Crystal Bridges. We love our new Ozarks home, and have been
reveling in the signs of spring all around us. We are excited to celebrate
Earth Day in “the Natural State” of Arkansas.

Here at
Walmart, we’ve been marking Earth Day with the release of our Global
Responsibility Report and the renewal of our
commitment to sustainability. While we are proud of our progress in energy,
waste, and product chains, we have a long way to go.

Nowhere is
this more the case than in the food chain.
In the next 30 years, the world population will approach 9 billion,
putting further stress on already-strained natural capital. As the world’s largest grocer, we are
concerned with one of the greatest challenges of our time: how to help provide people on every continent with
food that is safe, affordable, and sustainable for people and planet.

No one can
solve this alone. Progress will require
collaborative problem solving among people all along the food chain – from
farmers and fishers to transporters, development agencies, manufacturers,
scientists, activists, regulators, retailers and consumers. It’s why, for example, Walmart recently
joined USAID’s groundbreaking Global
Development Lab, along with a number of other organizations, to develop
innovative solutions to development challenges such as this.

Will you
join Walmart and so many others in creating a more sustainable food chain? Here
are just a few of the ways we are trying to make a difference, from field (and
ocean) to fork:

Resilient
sourcing: We’re working with farmers to adopt innovative agriculture
practices that preserve the environment and are fair to the people who use them.
For example, we are working with partners on technologies to reduce fertilizer
and pesticide use, and to conserve water; and we recently joined the Coalition
of Immokalee Workers (CIW) Fair Food Program – an initiative to improve
farmworkers’ working conditions and wages.

Waste
reduction: We’re addressing food waste all along the chain - for
example, by gleaning fallen produce from the ground, and making use of an
entire crop. We cull fresh food from our
stores before it goes bad, so that instead of becoming waste sent to landfill,
it gets sent to hunger relief organizations and then on to people who need it
most.

Food safety:Walmart was the first U.S. grocer to
require suppliers of food products such as produce, meat, fish, poultry and
ready-to-eat foods to have their factories certified against one of the
internationally recognized Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) standards. We
are bringing our food safety approaches to our operations around the world,
including not only North America, but in many countries across Africa, Latin
America, and Asia.

Food
security and access: Improving access to affordable food is a core part
of our business strategy. It’s why we’re saving customers more than $1 billion
each year on fresh produce and opening stores in food deserts. Earlier this
month, we announced the rollout of affordable organic foods under the Wild Oats
label. And for years, we’ve worked with
food banks to provide more links from our stores and suppliers, as well as the
infrastructure to support a permanent cold chain – all in an effort to route
millions of pounds of food to communities that need it most.

Making
healthy easy: Of course, it’s not just about feeding the world – it’s
about feeding families well. So we’re
taking the homework out of healthy shopping, working with suppliers to reduce
sugars and sodium and remove trans fats in everyday foods, while making the more
nutritious choices easier to spot with our Great For You icon in stores. We’re
providing tips and tools for how to turn these foods into simple, healthy and
delicious meals, and working with valuable partners to educate families on
cooking skills and nutrition.

We are
committed to using our strengths – our market access, investment dollars,
technological expertise and scale – to help others. Please join us; bring your unique strengths
to the table, and work with us, to set the table for everyone.

Blue Star Families Helps Unsung Heroes: Military Spouses

When I said, “I do” under a bower of roses to my husband, resplendent in his Marine Corps dress blues, I had no idea that the years ahead would bring the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the long war, many combat deployments and many moves.

I love my husband and found extraordinary meaning in helping to serve my country. Along the way, I also found that the costs can be very high.

Like many military spouses, I moved. I moved and moved again. I’ve lost careers that I cared about – and was good at. These jobs helped support my family while resettling my children and maintaining a home for my husband as he retrained and left again. It’s a lonely place to be. But I wasn’t alone.

Many military spouses deal with additional obstacles like putting the needs of the military above their own career goals. These obstacles can make full-time employment nearly impossible. That’s one of the reasons why a group of military spouses (including myself) got together in 2009 to create Blue Star Families, a national nonprofit dedicated to empowering military families. We want our families to thrive by providing them resources, support and connections to their civilian communities.

According to Blue Star Families’ annual Military Family Lifestyle Survey, most military spouses are not working. More than 75% of military spouses surveyed say that being a military spouse has hurt their career, and more than half of those not employed are actively seeking work. Of the minority of spouses who do work consistently, most earn less than $20,000 a year.

This kind of financial instability hurts military families. We know that dual income military families are able to better participate in their local communities and thrive while they serve. But, unlike their civilian counterparts, most military families face more hardships and uncertainties, because they volunteered to serve.

This is why Blue Star Families applauds Walmart for their new initiative to tackle this challenge affecting our military and their families. Walmart is rolling out their Military Spouse Career Connection. Beginning November 12, 2018, military spouses who apply for a job with Walmart or Sam’s Club will be given preferential hiring status.

Military spouses move so frequently that delays in hiring can mean they are not able to work at all during a duty station. Walmart and Sam’s Club can be a particularly good career path for military spouses, because there’s almost certainly a Walmart store anywhere the military sends families in the United States.

Blue Star Families is also working to solve the problem of military spouse unemployment. One of our major initiatives in this area is Spouseforce, an interactive platform for career-minded military spouses. It works in some ways like a dating app--both employer and employee can identify a possibly compatible match before making any contact.

It’s my hope that our combined efforts will help military families become more financially independent, and that spouses will have greater access to fulfilling, meaningful careers they can take with them wherever the military sends them.

I invite you to learn more about Blue Star Families and join us as a Blue Star Neighbor to show you’re a supporter of military families. When you stand with us, you help us create more opportunities for military families in your neighborhood, across the country and around the world.

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FEBRUARY 8, 2019 5:31 AM

michael wifing

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DECEMBER 27, 2018 1:57 PM

Arash Sadaf

We have to support our military family they are doing such a big job and they are very important to our country

This Bud’s for the Future of Our Planet

Over the years, the Budweiser logo has come to represent many things beyond just beer: the Budweiser frogs, the greeting "Wassup?" and, of course, the majestic Clydesdales. But soon you may be seeing a new Budweiser logo that symbolizes even more.

Anheuser-Busch, which first introduced Budweiser Lager Beer in 1876, is taking a serious look at how the way beer is produced can help make a difference for our planet.

To highlight its commitment, the company created a special "Brewed with 100% Renewable Electricity" logo that now appears on all Budweiser sold in the U.S. Just as iguanas Frank and Louie became popular mascots for the brand, the new logo will hopefully become a recognizable mark of social responsibility.

These efforts don’t end at the logo, however. The company took its ambitious sustainability goals and joined Walmart’s Project Gigaton, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in our supply chain by 1 billion metric tons by 2030.

The brewer set its own goals that it hopes to meet by 2025. Its four areas of focus are:

Renewable electricity and carbon reduction

Water stewardship

Smart agriculture

Circular packaging

"Achieving ambitious goals requires cooperation from stakeholders across the board. When you add efforts from wholesalers, suppliers and consumers to those from companies like Walmart and Anheuser-Busch — companies who are committed to the cause — you’ve got a chance to make a real difference," said Angie Slaughter, vice president of sustainability procurement at Anheuser-Busch, North America.

A major milestone was reached when the brewer announced a wind energy partnership with ENEL Green Power in 2017. Since January of this year, 50% of Anheuser-Busch’s purchased electricity has come from a wind farm at Thunder Ranch, Oklahoma. That’s enough renewable electricity to brew more than 20 billion 12-ounce servings of beer in the U.S. each year.

The Budweiser brand carries the flag for the renewable electricity goal pledged by the brewer. "When you consider the Budweiser beer volume in North America, we sell 15 million 12-ounce servings every day, and we have 15 million opportunities with each one to get customers involved in conversations over a beer," Angie said of Budweiser’s consumers. "We also want to encourage other companies to be inspired to do more. The new symbol is available for other companies to show how they’re using renewable electricity in their brands."

The wind farm hits on another shared interest between the brewery and Walmart: creating American jobs. Angie said the development of the farm is a 15-year project, and around 400 temporary jobs were created at the peak of construction. Some jobs will remain long term.

"We are proud to call the United States our home and are proud to continue to brew America’s best beers," said Angel Beasley, manager of trade marketing supporting the Walmart business. "It makes sense especially to amplify our American heritage with Walmart’s Made in the USA program. In fact, 98% of the primary ingredients used in the beers Anheuser-Busch proudly brews are grown in the U.S."

There are more than 18,000 employees nationwide. Budweiser’s production alone requires over 1,700 people, Angel said.

The next time you pass a Budweiser display in your local Walmart store or crack open a cold one, you’ll know that it’s more than an adult beverage – and that the company is doing more than coming up with clever commercials.

Army Principles Helped This Walmart Manager Move Up the Ranks

Elise Hackstall no longer wears an Army uniform. But to this day, the military values she learned in her years of service still inform her identity.

Take, for example, the honor code she learned as a cadet at the U.S. Military Academy: She’s been known to quote it when talking to her 10-year-old daughter about the importance of honesty.

Then there’s a skill she honed as an Army personnel officer: Be direct and constructive, even when the message you’re conveying might be tough to hear.

For Hackstall, commitment, accountability and leadership weren’t abstract principles but essential traits that propelled her through a military career at Fort Knox.

When she joined Walmart, she quickly noticed a cultural overlap. The company's four basic beliefs had plenty in common with the seven Army values she already knew, sharing an emphasis on respect and integrity.

"A lot of it aligned with who I was," Hackstall says, "so that made Walmart a great fit for me."

That was over 10 years ago. Since then, Hackstall has been promoted multiple times. She started as a shift manager in Columbus, Georgia and became store manager at the biggest Walmart Supercenter in her market. That led her to an opportunity to move into human resources management.

Putting in the (Team) Work

Most recently, she moved back to operations as a developmental market manager, training to supervise teams across multiple stores. This position will give her the skills to apply for market manager positions that open up after her training is complete.

The training, along with her previous position as a market human resources manager across stores in four states, has introduced Hackstall to Walmart employees from a variety of backgrounds.

"It's really helped me to have a bigger appreciation of what kind of people make up our business—people from all over the country who help our stores to be successful," she says.

Hackstall's longstanding interest in human resources work extends back to her Army service at Fort Knox, Kentucky, where she was stationed after graduating from West Point. Hackstall served as a personnel officer and continued in human resources positions after transitioning to the Army Reserve in 2008.

She continued to serve as a reserve officer until this past spring, when she left the military to focus on her career with Walmart.

Hiring Heroes

Walmart is committed to recruiting former military members and matching them with jobs that fit their skills. Hackstall points out three skills that veterans often carry into civilian life: communication, commitment and accountability.

Military people know how to come up with a plan, articulate that plan and carry it out. When a store manager needs someone to run point on Black Friday, the biggest retail day of the year, she says, "If there's a veteran in the store, many times that's the person."

Hackstall adds that Walmart helps to create a network for the veterans it recruits. Recently, she talked with someone who was leaving the military and considering coming to Walmart. What advice did she offer?

"Anybody who joins Walmart will quickly realize whether the company is a fit for them or not," she says. "It's fast-paced, you have to be extremely adaptable, and you can't be rigid in your thought process."

"Limitless" Job Opportunities

Hackstall notes that Walmart offers a broad range of roles that might not be obvious to candidates who think mainly of the day-to-day tasks at a store. From medical services to real estate to information systems, Walmart's size creates all kinds of job types.

"There are limitless opportunities with this company," she says. "Whatever you want to do—short of being a brain surgeon or an astronaut—you can do for Walmart."

For Hackstall, spending time in her new role as developmental market manager fits with her long-term plan to gain experience in multiple facets of Walmart's business. When asked about the future, she doesn't hesitate.

"My end goal is to be the head of HR for the company," she says. "Every single position that I've taken has been to make sure that I am putting myself in a place where I can be competitive for that role."

In the ‘Nick’ of Time, Walmart Driver Helps Hurricane Baby

The week that Hurricane Michael hit Panama City, Florida, Nick Davis, like many other Walmart drivers, chose to forgo his regular trucking route.

With a shower trailer hitched to the back of his truck, he left his home in LaGrange, Georgia, to meet associates and their families at a local motel where they took shelter from damaged homes in the wake of the storm. That’s where he met Lorrainda, her husband, Wilmer, and their newborn son, Luke – a family in search of shelter after being discharged from the hospital and without a home only three days after Luke was born.

“If that was me and my family, I would want help.” Nick said, remembering the moment he saw Luke and his parents. So that’s what he did, along with several other Walmart truck drivers helping on the ground. “I was there at the right time and I wasn’t going to let them go.”

Nick and the team at the Walmart supercenter on Front Beach Road in Panama City Beach gathered last week to give Luke’s parents the baby shower they deserve, complete with one year of free Parent’s Choice diapers. You can see more of their story in the video above.

Editor’s note: Disaster relief remains one of the top priorities for charitable giving from Walmart, the Walmart Foundation and Sam’s Club, with a combined total of over $12 million contributed to hurricane response and relief just this year.